Rio 2016: Meet the 2016 Olympic Refugee team

Ten refugees have been selected to form the first-ever Refugee Olympic Athletes team. ;

Yonas has been under international protection in Luxembourg since October 2013. He has competed in many marathons and reached the qualifying standards for Rio during the Frankfurt Marathon in October 2015. He currently trains at the national school of physical education and sports in Luxembourg.

Yolande is originally from Bukavu, the area worst affected by the DRC civil war from 1998-2003. As a professional Judoka, she represented the Democratic Republic of the Congo in international competitions. After years of difficult training conditions, she decided, along with her friend and fellow Judoka Popole, to seek asylum in Brazil during the World Judo Championships in Rio in 2013. She currently trains at the Instituto Reação in Rio de Janeiro. Yolande went on to become a professional athlete, competing in major tournaments. “Judo never gave me money, but it gave me a strong heart,” she says. “I got separated from my family and used to cry a lot. I started with judo to have a better life.” In 2013, when she came to Rio to compete at the World Judo Championship, her coach confiscated her passport and limited her access to food ?ñ as he did at every competition abroad. Fed up with years of abuse, including being caged after losing tournaments, Yolande fled the hotel and wandered the streets searching for help. Now, as refugee in Brazil, she has won a spot on the Refugee Olympic Athlete team and received training from Flavio Canto, a Brazilian Olympic bronze medallist. “I will be part of this team and I will win a medal. I am a competitive athlete, and this is an opportunity that can change my life,” she says. “I hope my story will be an example for everybody, and perhaps my family will see me and we will reunite.”

Refugee judoka, Popole Misenga (R) , from the Democratic Republic of Congo, at the Universidad Estascio de Sa, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He hopes to be selected as of the team of Refugee Olympic Athletes (ROA) created for the first time by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as part of upcoming Olympics Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ; Popole Misenga was just nine years old when he fled fighting in Kisingani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Separated from his family, he was rescued after eight days in the forest and taken to the capital, Kinshasa. There, at a centre for displaced children, he discovered judo. “When you are a child, you need to have a family to give you instructions about what to do, and I didn’t have one. Judo helped me by giving me serenity, discipline, commitment ?ñ everything.” Popole became a professional judoka, but each time he lost a competition his coach locked him in a cage for days with only coffee and bread to eat. Finally, at the 2013 world championships in Rio, where he was deprived of food and knocked out in the first round, he decided to seek asylum. “In my country, I didn’t have a home, a family or children. The war there caused too much death and confusion, and I thought I could stay in Brazil to improve my life.” After gaining refugee status, Popole began training with Flavio Canto, an Olympic bronze medallist. “I want to be part of the Refugee Olympic Athletes team to keep dreaming, to give hope to all refugees and take sadness out of them,” he says. “I want to show that refugees can do important things.” He also hopes to catch the attention of his relatives back home. “I will win a medal, and will dedicate it to all refugees.”

Refugees athletes are training for Rio’s Olympic Games in the forest near Ngong in the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya. ; A group of athletic refugees are training in Kenya, hoping to qualify to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games which will be held in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. If they qualify, the athletes will go to the Games as part of team Refugee Olympic Athletes, which is supported by The International Olympic Committee.

Paulo Amotun Lokoro (centre), a refugee from South Sudan, training in the outskirts of Nairobi. ; Just a few short years ago, Paulo Amotun Lokoro was a young herder guarding his family’s few cattle on the plains of what is now South Sudan. He says he “knew nothing” of the world except his own homeland, which had been at war for almost all his life. The effects of that conflict pushed him to flee to neighbouring Kenya, where he has developed new, grand ambitions: “I want to be world champion,” he says. Living in a refugee camp, Paulo excelled in school sports, ultimately gaining a spot on the refugee squad now training near Nairobi under the guidance of Tegla Loroupe, the renowned Kenyan runner who holds several world records. “Before I came here I did not even have training shoes,” he says. “Now we have trained and trained, until we see ourselves at a good level, and now we know fully how to be athletes.” “Before I came here, I did not even have training shoes.” The effort paid off: Paulo is going to Rio. “I am so happy,” he says. “I know I am racing on behalf of refugees. I was one of those refugees there in the camp, and now I have reached somewhere special. I will meet so many people. My people will see me on the television, on Facebook.” Still, his aim is simple: “If I perform well, I will use that to help support my family, and my people.”

Rami during a training session at the S and R Rozebroeken swimming pool in Gent. “On a weekly basis, I train most days,” says Rami. “I train in the morning and in the evening, on average I train nine times per week.” ; Rami Anis started formal swimming training as a 14-year-old growing up in Aleppo. He credits his Uncle Majad, who swam competitively in Syria, with instilling a passion for competing in the water. “Swimming is my life,” Rami says. “The swimming pool is my home.” As bombings and kidnappings in Aleppo grew more frequent, his family put him on a flight to Istanbul to live with an older brother who was studying Turkish. “The bag I took had two jackets, two t-shirts, two trousers ?ñ it was a small bag,” Rami recalls. “I thought I would be in Turkey for a couple of months and then return to my country.” “The swimming pool is my home.” As months turned to years, he used the time to hone his swimming technique at the prestigious Galatasaray Sports Club. Yet without Turkish nationality, he was unable to swim in competitions. “It’s like someone who is studying, studying, studying and he can’t take the exam.” Determined to prove himself, Rami rode an inflatable dinghy to the Greek island of Samos. Eventually he reached the Belgian town of Ghent, where he’s been training nine times a week with former Olympic swimmer Carine Verbauwen. “With the energy I have, I am sure I can achieve the best results,” he says. “It will be a great feeling to be part of the Olympics.”

Rose and her family left South Sudan and arrived in Kakuma refugee camp in 2002. They escaped because of the war. Her parents went back to South Sudan in 2008 but her siblings remained in Kakuma. During her time at school, she participated in many running competitions and in 2015 she participated in a 10 km run in Kakuma organized by the Tegla Loroupe Foundation. She has been training in the foundation ever since

Prior to the war in Syria, Yusra was a competitive swimmer who represented her country in international competitions. As the war intensified, Yusra and her sister left Damascus in early August 2015 and reached Berlin in September 2015. Since then, Yusra has been training at the club Wasserfreunde Spandau 04 e.V. which is a partner of the Elite Schools of Sport in Berlin.

Anjaline arrived in Kakuma with her aunt in 2002. She escaped because of the war. While at high school, she participated in many running competitions. In 2015 one of her teachers told her that she should participate in a 10 km run organized by the Tegla Loroupe Foundation. Based on her promising results, she was selected and has been training with the Foundation ever since.

Pur arrived in Kakuma in 2005 from Nasir, South Sudan. He fled South Sudan with his relatives to escape war. He lived in Kakuma with his relatives while his parents remained in Nasir. He never went back to South Sudan. In 2015, he heard that the Tegla Loroupe Foundation was organizing athletics trials in Kakuma. Pur took part in the trials, showed promising results and was selected to join the Foundation. He has been there ever since.